When a cancer center is not one

I don't know who the author of this blog is, but s/he has a thoughtful view of the "business plans" that seem to characterize a lot of cancer centers being set up by hospitals across the country.  It's called, "Your cancer center is just a box."  Here's the excerpt:

I had the opportunity to discuss the idea for a new cancer center with a healthcare system. The team consisted of the CFO and COO, a couple of the medical directors, several VP’s from service lines, and the marketing team.

Everyone had their list of all the inputs that they feel needs to be a part of the new cancer center. The technology, the specialists, the types of treatments. They even had a preliminary design that they had worked through with an expert architecture firm.

My honest opinion is that I have NOT seen anything in this presentation that shows you understand how families, businesses, patients, and consumers of cancer services want to use your “stuff.”

The room went silent. I could tell I hit a nerve. I told them that what they have is very manageable, but it isn’t anything special. It’s a box. It has a bunch of things in it. Yet it is still a box. I don’t do boxes.

The beauty comes when you know why people walk through your front door. . . . It comes in having an intimacy in understanding how they think, feel, react, and what they expect from your services. It comes in anticipating their needs before it even comes up and delivering the content in a manner that is easy, simple, and available.

If that is what you want, then I suggest you scrap what you think you know, and begin with the people that matter the most, those that live in your community.